How does the gameplay work?===============================================================================

In Frozen Synapse, two teams combat each other. You always command thegreen team and the opponent commands the red team. Both players set ordersfor their units, while the gameplay is frozen. Afterwards they submit (prime)their turn, and the consequences are played out simultaneusly.

While both players are planning their turn, they cannot see what theopponent is planning. They can only guess and test "what would happen if..."When you make your plan, you can at anytime press play to test what wouldhappen if you did this. You can also set hypothetic commands for the enemy'sunits - these don't actually change "what the enemy will do", but you canuse them to test "what would happen if the enemy did this".

How do i best learn the game?===============================================================================

Watch the tutorial and click "Play a game against the AI" in the mainmenu.Play some AI matches until you have a good grasp of the game's basics.

Afterwards, log in and play a few multiplayer games. Don't worry aboutlosing your first few multiplayer matches. This is normal. On average,it takes about a week until you have learned enough to win more often.It may be a good idea to play the gamemode "extermination" on yourfirst few multiplayer matches. Extermination basically is deathmatch, sothe ruleset is simple. Additionally, the scores aren't too high for thisgamemode, so you will lose less points when losing your first few games.

How do the controls work?===============================================================================

Default Controlscheme:----------------------

Leftclick = Select units, waypoints or orders Drag w. right button = Move the map Doubleclick = Set a waypoint SHIFT + Doubleclick = Set a waypoint manually (override pathfinding) Rightclick = Orders menu Drag "Aim" icon = Set an "aim here" order CTRL + Leftclick = Set a "check here" order (makes the unit do a quick look in a direction and then return back to normal viewing direction)

Leftclick = Select units, waypoints or orders Drag w. left button = Scroll the map Rightclick = Set a waypointSHIFT/CTRL + Rightclick = Set a waypoint manually (override pathfinding) Hold right button = Orders menu Doubleclick = Set an "aim here" orderSHIFT/CTRL + Doublclick = Set a "check here" order (makes the unit do a quick look in a direction and then return back to normal direction)Click "Cancel Aim" icon = Cancel Aiming

The following keys work in both controlschemes:-----------------------------------------------

Cursor Keys = Scroll the map N/M = Zoom in/out Space = Play/Pause Backspace = Remove WPs/Orders from last to first Delete = Remove selected order D = Duck S = Stand C = Continue on Sight E = Engage on sight Hold V = Test visibility Hold T and move Mouse = Draw a rectangular "zone" that you can then click on, to make a unit ignore or focus enemies in that area. Warning: Beginning with the next turn, your opponent will see that you drew such a zone. Tab = Cycle through your units 1-9 = Select one of your units by its number

To submit your turn, press the "PRIME" button.

Why did i win/lose that firefight? How do the combat rules work?===============================================================================

The rules why a unit wins/loses are very simple. They are:

1. How much is the unit in cover? (behind halfheight obstacles: those windows & boxes) Corners do not give cover. Only windows & boxes do.

2. Did the unit recently duck or stand up? (doing this puts you at a disadvantage for a short moment)

3. Is the unit standing still (advantage) or moving (disadvantage)?

4. Is the unit aiming?

The priorities are in the above order. So cover is more important thanstillness, while stillness is more important than aiming. Notice thatducking does not give you an advantage, but actually puts you at adisadvantage for a short moment (while ducking down or standing up).

It doesn't matter where the gun of a unit is pointing. "If you can see him,you can kill him". A unit can attack anyone in it's field of view instantlywithout any "turning penalty": So, you don't need to tell your units whereto shoot, only in which overall direction (FOV) they should look.

As a result, the game plays less like a 1st-person shooter, but more likea game of chess. What matters are the above four simple rules, terrain,timing and your ability to mindread the opponent.

If you are unsure why you won/lost a firefight, select the unit in questionand play the turn again. During playback, messages will be displayed nextto the unit, explaining why it won/lost.

The unit types===============================================================================

Machine Gun:Your general multipurpose unit and often the backbone of your team.

Shotgunner:Fast and almost unstoppable at short range (even if the enemy is behindcover). He can however not attack at medium to long range at all. If you'rethreatened by a shotgunner, keep distance at any cost. It is possiblefor an MG to beat an incoming shotgunner, if the MG is behind cover,still and aiming (so, you pretty much need all advantages on your sideto beat him).

Sniper:Slow but good at long range and area-denial (use him to cover largeopen spaces so that the enemy cannot go there). The way to neutralizea sniper is the opposite way around: Exploit it's closerange weaknessand slow speed (A shotgunner is a sniper's worst nightmare if in range).

Rocket Launcher:Fires a rocket in a straight line. The explosion destroys walls and killsnearby units. If you fire while ducking, the rocket can also hit windowsand boxes (else it travels over them). The rocket has infinite range,but only explodes when it hits obstacles, not units or the map borders.The rocket launcher moves slowly and can only fire every 5 seconds.If threatened by a rocket launcher, stay away from walls or make surethat there is a second wall between you and the rocket launcher. A lastoption is to seek close distance: The RL cannot attack close range withoutrisking to blow himself up too.

Grenade Launcher:Like the Rocket Launcher, but the grenades can bounce of walls. This isuseful in that the unit does not require line of sight to it's target.The grenade has a limited range and the explosion does not destroy obstacles(which means that you can survive a grenade explosion, by ducking behindcover). Grenades do not bounce off map borders. Options against agrenade launcher are staying on distance, going into closerange, andusing walls and boxes as shields.

How does multiplayer work?===============================================================================

Multiplayer is like play-by-email, except of that the email-client is thegame-client, and the email-server is the game-server. After a game wasstarted, both players plan their turns. They don't need to do this at thesame time: One player could submit his turn on monday, while the otherplayer submits her turn on wednesday.

When both players submitted their turn, they are notified that a new turnis ready - either ingame or via email. They can then watch the outcome andplan their next turn.

Because of this, you can have multiple games active at the same time.You can see a list of your currently active games in the "feed" (the pageyou see after logging in) on the right side under "My Active Games".

The easiest way to start a multiplayer game is as follows: Log in.Take a look at the right side to see who is online. Then look at the redsquare at a corner of the screen. You can click it to set it to a new color.

The meaning of the colors is:

Red = You are not looking for a game.Yellow = You're willing to accept a game, but aren't asking others to play. Green = You want to play and are actively asking others for a game.

How do those gamemodes work? What does "dark" mean?===============================================================================

"Light" and "dark" define what the players can see:

Light: Both players can always see each others units. This puts more focus on "mindreading", since both players have the same info.

Dark: Each player can only see what his/her units can see at a given moment. This puts more focus on gathering information & stealth.

All gamemodes can be played in light-style or dark-style. To get moreinfo about a gamemode, click on the "?"-Button while in a game.If then you're still unsure, ask other players.

Where to get more help or chat with other players?===============================================================================

While logged in, click on the speech bubble button. This will make youenter Frozen Synapse's IRC chatroom. If you prefer to use your ownIRC-Client, then here's the necessary data:

- Server: irc.maxgaming.net, port 6667- Channel: #mode7games

I keep losing. How can i improve my tactics? (by Lyx)===============================================================================

What works well depends on you, your opponent, the gamemode and the terrain.However, here are some generic hints:

- Test before submitting. This is important. However, do not rely on things happening precisely as in your tests. Even if the opponent overally does what you expect, there may be small differences. Give your plans some headroom for variations.

- Look at the overall situation and think before planning. Most good plans have a macroscopic aspect and a microscopic one.

- Don't set your unit's FOV to point exactly at an enemy. Set the unit's FOV to cover the area which you want covered.

- Use the V key to test where your units can shoot.

- Rewatch your games and other player's games. Analyze what worked and what didn't. If you're unsure why a player did something, ask him/her.

- In dark matches: Don't let the enemy see your units if you can prevent it with little effort. Be aware that lack of data can be information: By knowing where the enemy isn't and taking terrain into account, you can sometimes pinpoint exactly where an enemy is, and even know where he is looking (and therefore, where he can fire).

- Sync your plan to turn transitions: A common trick for example is to let a unit look around a corner at the last moment of a turn. You can then in the next turn either quickly retreat, or continue what you planned to do (however, the enemy will be able to do the same).

- Don't be greedy and know what you can pull off and what you cannot. Sometimes, playing safe and setting for a minor win or even a draw is preferable over trying to kill all enemy units.

Last edited by Lyx on Sat Aug 07, 2010 10:13 am, edited 8 times in total.

I don't have the game yet, hope to buy it sometime, but I'm wondering. If you duck behind a half height item (box, window?), can you still see over it? Can the enemy still see you with an aiming penalty, or not at all?

Im suprised by that Oddball. I thought you were ok if crouched behing half cover. Do you think its by design that you can be hit or was it a bug??Hehe hehe....of course, it might just be you have a big head that pokes over the top after that narrow win you had against me Also Oddball, stick your avatar on mate, its a great one !!

LV as lyx said, its by design but not made obvious in the game text. i found out the hard way!he was next to the window and i started moving away aiming towards him though. it is how it should be, i wouldnt like troops not being targetable if crouched in a room with no obvious way in.

so

0|X 0 being team green x being team red and the line being the window both cant target each other.

i think the advantage is given to the standing player though. but not tested that to see who gets the better visual first for a shot.

Oddball wrote:i think the advantage is given to the standing player though. but not tested that to see who gets the better visual first for a shot.

Say you have a crouched person on one side of a window and a standing person on the other side, both facing each other and both close to the window, just like your example.

If the crouching person stands up, they will lose the exchange, because the act of standing up or crouching down imparts a disadvantage for a short time, just like when you are moving (I think it may be less extreme than the "moving" penalty).

So don't stand up while facing a target on the other side of cover unless you have some other advantage - like a shotgun, or the other person is facing the wrong way.

EDIT: P.S. Great post Lyx, very helpful to me personally and, I'm sure, every other newbie who visits here!

Oddball wrote:LV as lyx said, its by design but not made obvious in the game text. i found out the hard way!he was next to the window and i started moving away aiming towards him though. it is how it should be, i wouldnt like troops not being targetable if crouched in a room with no obvious way in.

so

0|X 0 being team green x being team red and the line being the window both cant target each other.

i think the advantage is given to the standing player though. but not tested that to see who gets the better visual first for a shot.

i didnt stand up because i knew i would lose the exchange but still lost moving away

Yeah, but you were still moving Oddball, so when you got far enough away from the window for you to see each other, your opponent then had the 'standing still bonus' (which I don't agree with as I think it encourages boring games where you stand still because it's too risky to move lol)!!

smart bunny wrote:Yeah, but you were still moving Oddball, so when you got far enough away from the window for you to see each other, your opponent then had the 'standing still bonus' (which I don't agree with as I think it encourages boring games where you stand still because it's too risky to move lol)!!

agreed and in the games current random form means unless u stay camped in a room u cant escape without losses most of the time.

I have a question, a lack of understanding for why i seem to end up on the losing end 3/4 of all situations.

Im only playing vs the AI at the moment, played maybe 20 games and theres been a couple of things which really frustrate me.1) Having someone stand right at a window aiming out, AI off at an angle say >45', he walks towards window and just shoots while my guy stands there in a deep sleep, which quickly becomes a very deep sleep.Im seeing this all too often, at first i thought it was because i was ducking behind windows thinking i was good for shooting, but since common sense kicked in i've obviously not done that, and still seem to die while my guy daydreams.

2) My last game, 2 vs 1, both in open area but with a room for cover between us. Both my units are to the AIs SW, i send 1 running & ignoring AI to get behind additional cover, and while he's drawing the attention of the AI who opens fire, my other guy is moving through the room directly below the AI and should have an easy kill. Instead, the decoy works perfectly drawing fire from the AI, my other guy moves into place but stops to shoot despite there being a wall between them (theres also a window there, but no direct line of sight) and after the AI joins in the firing it shoots through the wall killing my guy.Correction - despite the decoy causing the AI to draw fire, he instantly turns and is shooting before my guy is! How is the AI able to turn and switch target immediately after shooting elsewhere, fire the first shot when my guys already facing the same direction and isnt moving, with the AI shooting through a wall in order to get the kill (and it is a shot through the wall, ive checked frame by frame).

Both instances make little sense to me, why 1 angle is fine for one person to shoot and kill, but the other cant do anything, and the 2nd how its possible to be looking 90' from someone behind a wall and despite being 2nd to fire still get the kill.

Its things like this which are stopping me from going online with it, i'd want to spend more time understanding the game anyway before going MP, but whats the point when it seems like its making things up as it goes along. What am i doing wrong??